engleski

Sexual maturity and life stage influences toxic metal accumulation in Croatian brown bears

The influence of reproductive and (early) life stages on toxic metal levels was investigated in the brown bear (Ursus arctos), the largest mammalian predator species in Croatia. The aim was to further examine critical clusters in a population that might be at a higher risk of adverse health effects caused by metals as environmental contaminants. Levels of cadmium, mercury and lead in muscle, liver and kidney cortex of 325 male and 139 female bears, quantified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, were analysed according to distinct bear life stages (young: cub, yearling, sub-adult ; mature: adult). Metal levels did not differ among sexes in young animals (<4 years), except for mercury in muscles (higher in females), and adult females had higher cadmium and mercury. A trend of renal cadmium accumulation with age in immature male animals disappeared once they reached maturity, while for females this trend has only slowly declined in mature compared to immature bears. In early life stage (<1 year), bear cubs had lower cadmium, comparable mercury and higher lead in the kidneys than the bears of the following age category (yearlings). Due to a higher proportion of lead transfer from the mother to the cub compared to cadmium, it may be the high burden of cadmium found in older females is of lower toxicological concern for their cubs than the lead content. Sex, reproductive and life stages of bears were confirmed as important in assessing toxic metal burden.

Cadmium ; Lead ; Mercury ; Contaminant ; Terrestrial mammal

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